


Christmas 1998

by AccioMarvel



Series: Dates [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: After the battle, Christmas, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Holidays, Next Gen, first Christmas after the war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 12:33:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3896464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AccioMarvel/pseuds/AccioMarvel





	Christmas 1998

Ginny woke up due to the light streaming though the window and the owl at the window with the Daily Prophet. "Merry Christmas!" It proclaimed on the front. She bite her lip, nervously. Christmas had come so quickly, and so did the moment she was dreading. She'd be going to the Burrows to spend the holiday with her family. What was left of it anyways.  
Christmas morning had never felt like such a chore.  
She snuck off into Teddy's nursery, and found the little boy fast asleep, his hair a deep maroon. Ginny smiled at the boy and ran her fingers through his hair. After the war had ended, Harry and Ginny had decided to move in with Andromeda. It was a big house for one women and a newborn. Ron and Hermione had taken to Grimmauld Place, and fixing it up. If things went as planned, Harry and Ginny would move back to Grimmauld Place once they had started a finally of there own, and it was most likely that Teddy would be talking a lot by then. It had Just seemed cruel, leaving Andromeda without anyone to talk. So they had moved in to help raise Teddy.  
Andromeda was already about the kitchen, brewing tea in silence. Ginny pretended not to noticed tear stains on her face. She pretended It wouldnt be Andromeda's first Christmas without her husband or her daughter. Instead she happily exclaimed that it was "Teddy's first Christmas!" With a soft smile, pouring herself some tea. Andromeda was startled by the sudden noise but smiled widely  
"That it is." She said, lean against the counter adjacent from the one Gin y was leaned against. She swallowed her tea and opened her mouth as if to continue, but then, seemed to not know what to say. There was a long silence until Andromeda finally found something to say "what's the hair color today?"  
"It's maroon."  
"Interesting." Andromeda said knitting her eyebrows together. "I figured it'd be red and green." She smiled. Ginny chuckled picturing the 8 month old with red and green striped hair. It must have been something Tonks had done as a girl. Ginny ignored the twinge of pain that thought caused.  
"You're still coming to the burrows with us, right 'dromeda?" Ginny asked sipping her tea.  
"Of course!" Andromeda smiled. "Oh! Ginny! I have a Christmas present for you!" She said excitedly, and scurried off to the closet at the end of the hall. "I thought about giving it to you at the burrows, but, I just couldn't wait! Now don't you dare make a fuss but, I saw this and I thought of you and had to get it." She said, pushing a small box into Ginny's hands. Ginny smiled, her face turning slightly pink, and unwrapped the box. Inside was a beautiful and bright brass colored necklace in the shape of a stallion. The stallion was flicking its ears and stomping it's foot. Ginny gasped at how detailed it was  
"Oh, Andromeda! You didn't have to- this must have cost a fortune!" Ginny said, admiring the fine craftsmanship. But Andromeda just smiled and said  
"It's a locket. I already put pictures in it." She opened it. The picture inside on the left was of her and Harry dancing, they were looking into each other's eyes and, wow, he really did look at her like she hung the stars. On the right was her and her brothers, a Christmas before the war, laughing in their Weasley jumpers. She looked at Fred especially, he was next to George as always, trying to hide a filibuster firework behind his back. He had a dopey smile on his face, the firework exploded, and they jumped and then they all laughed. She could almost heard her mom yelling at Fred and George, could almost hear his laugh, could almost remember he warm he had been and how he had smelled like cinnamon while George smelled like pumpkin. The hole in her chest opened a new. Just like every time she saw the hallow look in George's eyes, every time when she was at Hogwarts and saw the damage, or entered the Grand Hall where, last May, she had spotted bright pink and red orange Weasley-brand hair in a sea of gray death and thought "they don't belong here. This is all just some nightmare.", when Harry would wake up from a nightmare screaming for Sirius, or when her own nightmares brought her to insomnia.  
Christmas was going to be just awful.  
By the time Harry had woken up and Andromeda had gotten him a present as well. (It was photo album that had belonged to Sirius, pictures from his time at Hogwarts. A picture of Lupin, Sirius, Pettigrew, and Harry's dad- all in the first year- was on the first page. Harry gave Andromeda a very tight hug and choked out a thank you.) it was time to get the the Burrows. They all grabbed what they had needed: presents, a dish to pass, and of course Teddy, who was giggling in Harry's arms as Harry make silly faces and Ginny bundled Teddy up in winter clothes. As she smiled at Harry who was bugging his eyes and puffing out his cheeks and just being generally ridiculous, she thought of sitting at a table in Grimmauld Place, Tonks morphing a duck bill, and a pig nose just to cheer Ginny up. She thought of how it should be Tonks making silly faces at her son while Remus dressed him. She tried not to think about her chest tearing open again and the sting in her eyes.  
Everyday was a struggle, her chest seemed to rip at least once a day, but it was getting better. She had express to Harry in bed the night before her hope that once they made it through Christmas, the first holiday, then they would know they could survive. Life could start being lived again.  
Since they had an 8 month old baby, they decided apparating and using floo powder was too dangerous so they drove to The Burrows. Andromeda kept quiet the whole way, but they knew that she really did hate using muggle forms of travel.  
They were greeted first by Charlie, who was had arrived the night from Romania. He was already sporting this years jumper. His was bright red with a large black "C" and a dragon that was also a dark black. Their mother had been putting the dragon on Charlie's sweater since he was five. Charlie met them outside, offering to help carry something. He ended up carrying in most of the presents. Once they were inside they were met by Molly who greeted them with a big smile. Hugging each of them and giving Harry and Ginny their jumpers. (Harry's was maroon with a Gold "H". Ginny's was blue with a grey "G") She smiled at Andromeda and Teddy and gave them jumpers as well. Teddy seemed rather pleased with the tiny gold jumper with the black capital "T" in the center. When Harry slipped it on him, he clapped his hands happily and his hair quickly changed to a shade of Weasley red, Causing an almost uncomfortable laughter. Andromeda also seemed please with hers that was also yellow and black.  
George came downstairs sporting his jumper from the previous year. (Ginny knew because it was Green with a gold "G") Ginny ran and hugged him, and he smiled at her and kissed the top of her head. He seemed like he was finally waking up from the dream where Fred was still here. He seemed like slowly, but surely, he was returning to his old self. Then Ginny noticed that Angelina Johnson had followed behind him and was gripping his hand, sporting her own red Weasley jumper with a Giant blue A. Ginny smiled at this and said hello to her.  
She found Percy by the fire and before she could greet him, the fire creaked and Ron and Hermione appeared. Ginny smiled at them and Molly greeted them, hugged them, and handed them their jumpers. For hours after they arrived, it felt like nobody really wanted to be there. It didn't feel like Christmas, it felt more like a funeral. Unfortunately, that was an all too familiar feeling.  
Of course there was a lot of forced smiling. Except for Molly when she was asked to hold Teddy. That was a real smile, the first real smile of the night. She was still holding Teddy (who's hair was now neon green) when Fleur and Bill came to the door. Baring gifts and the second and third genuine smile of the night.  
"Finally you two are here! Now we can eat!" Molly said, handing Teddy to Andromeda, and heading to the kitchen to get the turkey.  
"Go! Sit!" She commanded from the kitchen. They all shuffled silently to the table and sat. Molly soon floating in behind her a turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, corn, and all the fixings. She took her sit at the table and told everyone to dig in.  
Ginny tried not to notice the one empty seat at the table, that she knew was suppose to be filled by a prankster who should be laughing and finishing George's sentence. But instead it was just and empty seat the Molly had forgotten she didn't need. It was just a source for more heartache.  
They quickly ate and retreated in to the living room, Ginny thought that possibly everyone wanted to avoid the empty seat, but then they started passing out presents. George was first to get up and holding a little shiny red box, handing it to Andromeda he said "I got this for Ted. Well, made it for Ted, really. It's a project in the works." Andromeda looked nervous as she opened it. Rightfully so, George really thought it was a good idea to give an 8 month old something from his shop? But once it was opened everyone gasp. It was a tiny plush toy. Ginny smiled, realizing it was a wolf plush toy. And then the plush toy stood in Andromeda's hand and blinked.  
"It's a 'living soft toy'" George smiled "a little animation spell and bam, you've got a great friend, doesn't need food or water or anything. It can run around and at night it will cuddle up with you. It's surprisingly soothing to have it because you feel it breathing." Everyone looked shocked at George until finally Ron asked  
"Is it going to blow up or something?" Everyone chuckled a bit nervously wondering the same thing Ron was. George smiled  
"Have a little faith in me! No, it's not going to blow up! I want to help with recovering from the war and yes I can make people laugh but having a joke wand doesn't comfort you when you can't sleep. I thought it might help the kids, help them sleep at night. Feel safer. Having a friend to be there to chase the nightmares away-"  
"Like a patronus." Ginny said  
"Yeah... Like a patronus." George smiled. They all watched as Teddy played with the little wolf and soft smiles grew on their faces. Teddy eventually crawled over to Harry who picked him up and the tiny wolf jumped and sat next to them on the couch. Then they all handed out there gifts and began ripping them open. Ginny got a joke wand from George, a new book to read from Percy (Hairy Snout, Human Heart, Ginny had expressed a longing to read it since her third year. She had read it from the library but never owned a copy.) Ron and Hermione got an owl for her and Harry. It was a screech owl named Cypress. Molly and Arthur got her the jumper and the biography Rita Skeeter had written about Harry, which they all had a good laugh about. Bill and Fleur had gotten her a camera of her very own. Charlie got her a dragon figurine and a promise in hushed tone to take her to Romania sometime and she could fly I a Peruvian Vipertooth ("they're friendlier then they sound, I promise") and Harry got her a new broom. It was when she had finished opening the broom that Molly said "oh Andromeda I think I just accidentally opened something for you and Teddy!" It was a box with baby clothes in it. A onesie, some booties, and a tiny hat.  
"No, mom. It's for you. Though would be much to small for Teddy anyway." Bill said. Molly looked at him confused. "It's from us... Me and Fleur." He explained. There was silence as everyone waited in suspense for confirmation on what they thought was truth.  
"It's for your granddaughter." Fleur said, tears streaming down her cheeks. There was a short stunned moment of silence, then-  
"I'm going to be a grandmother!" Molly rejoiced, throwing her arms around Bill and kissing Fleur on the forehead. The gloom seemed to have been lifted and for a moment, the Weasley family seemed whole and happy. George sudden broke out wine, and everyone but Fleur and Harry (as he needed to drive) drank heavily. (Harry might have snuck a little wine.)  
Ginny left the Burrow that night. Happily drunk for the first time ever. She was going to be an aunt. She watched as Harry (who had sobered up) strapped a sleeping Teddy into his car seat, his tiny wolf plush asleep in his lap. They had told George it was a wonderful idea after watching it and Teddy for along time, and Learning it falls asleep when it's owner does. Andromeda climbed into the back seat and fell asleep too. Ginny smiled to Harry as he drove.  
"We did it." She said quietly.  
"Yeah we did." He smiled "and you know what?"  
"What?"  
"We didn't just survive Christmas." Harry said, a smile growing on his face. "We enjoyed it."


End file.
